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Illinois' Roger Powell Jr. came up with a huge game against Louisville, scoring 20 points to help the Illini reach the national title game.

After Larry O’Bannon made a pair of free throws to give Louisville a 33-31 lead, its first of the game, Powell went to work. He started his own run of four straight baskets with a 3-pointer from NBA range. After getting the rebound at the other end of the floor, he tried for another 3.

But the shot wouldn’t go, setting up the most spectacular play of the game.

“That tip dunk, I just knew it was going to come off like that,” Powell said, shaking his head. “I don’t know how. I just knew that.”

As soon as the ball left his hands, Powell sprinted inside. When the ball clanged off the rim, he got his hands on it and dunked it, rattling the backboard and bringing his cheering teammates to their feet.

“That was crazy,” Williams said. “That definitely should be top 10 — it’s No. 1 in my book. He played great and stepped up when he had to and made a big-time impact.”

Powell scored on a driving finger roll, and finished his spurt with a hook shot to give Illinois a 40-37 lead with 15:08 to play.

Louisville tied the game again, at 42, on Francisco Garcia’s steal and driving lay-up, but Powell was right there again with a 3-pointer.

“He went through a stretch where he just took the game in his hands,” Head said. “He just took on the scoring.”

Powell and Head sealed the victory with another flurry of baskets midway through the half. After Dee Brown missed a long 3, Powell grabbed the rebound and scored on the lay-up. Head followed with back-to-back 3s.

After a short timeout, Powell stole the ball from Garcia and made a baseline jumper to give Illinois a 60-49 lead, its biggest of the game, with 6:17 left.

“The seniors carried us,” Weber said. “I said a long time ago, our juniors are great but we are no better than our seniors. Our seniors will determine how good we are. I think they stood up big tonight and made a difference. They got us to the championship.”

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Mark J. Terrill / AP

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